Tim Urban, left, with Ryan Seacreast, was eliminated from American Idol on Wednesday.

Track the action song by song, mingle with fellow fans and keep current with Brian Mansfield's updates at our American Idol community.

By Brian Mansfield, USA TODAY

From his sudden reversal of fortune after getting cut before the semifinals to his ouster Wednesday during Idol Gives Back, Tim Urban had one of the wildest rollercoaster rides of any contestant in American Idol history. He survived longer than almost anybody -- himself included -- expected him to. He inflamed the passions of young girls. He infuriated other viewers. He befuddled the judges. And, unlike some other contestants, he stuck around long enough to figure out, in his final few weeks on the show, what he was supposed to be doing -- and he got better.

While Tim ultimately didn't fulfill the doomsday scenario we laid out in this space a few weeks ago, he did get a kick out of the post. "That was really funny," he said when I talked to him by phone Thursday afternoon. "I definitely enjoyed reading that one.

Q: How did you approach being in the competition? Because you weren't really even supposed to be there in the first place.

Tim Urban: You know, I kind of treated it all as a big audition, but also as a big bonus. The experience was amazing, and each week that I was there – since I wasn't supposed to be there to begin with – was, like, 'Wow! I get the opportunity to do this!' So it was kind of a unique perspective.
I was just trying to have as much fun and enjoy myself as much as I possibly could, and then try to be myself on stage. That's how I tried to approach it: Be myself, go out there and have fun, because none of this was really supposed to happen at the start.

Q:
I got the impression that you knew how lucky you were and were making sure to take advantage of everybody opportunity being on Idol afforded you.

A: Yeah, absolutely. The entertainment industry, it's about having an opportunity and making the most of it. That's what I tried to do. I wasn't trying to be anything other than who I am, I was just trying to make the absolute most of the opportunity that I was given.

Q: Those first few weeks, every time somebody would get eliminated, the camera would show you, and the look on your face seemed to say, "How in the world did I survive that?"Was that pretty much what was going through your head?

A: Absolutely. Those first few weeks were not good for me. Actually, most of the weeks were not that good for me, as far as judges' comments, if we're going to be honest. They were not on the Tim Urban bandwagon from the get-go. Every week, I'd get done and they'd rip apart my performance, and I'd think, 'Maybe this week I'm going home.' Then, when somebody else went home that I thought had a really good show, I was, like, 'Wow, I cannot believe that just happened.' It was really crazy. Those results shows were a trip.

Q: Did you ever feel like you were in over your head?

A:
You know, there were a couple of times when I would have that thought. But I also realized that people found something they liked about me. For whatever reason, they wanted me in the competition. I couldn't really worry about if I was the best singer or the best performer. I just had to continue to try to be me and continue to try to give that group of people who liked me, give them another opportunity to enjoy my performance and vote for me.

Q: I had sort of figured out that you were going home when you were going home …

A:
That's how I approached it. I was like, 'Whenever I go home, that's the end of the live show for me, and that's fine.' It's part of life. Which is why, when I got sent home last night, I wasn't really devastated, because it's part of the show. I got on a crazy whirlwind, didn't expect it, already got cut once. I got on … barely, so to stick around this long has been amazing.

Q: By the end of the run, clearly something had clicked. What was it that clicked for you, where you finally understood what you were supposed to be doing?

A: It was funny. When I first got on the show, I almost felt like I needed to change for American Idol. I know that happens for a lot of people. They get on the show, and they change a little bit. They stop being who they would be if they were off the show. Those first couple weeks, looking back, that's kind of what I was doing. Except Hallelujah was definitely me being myself, and Come On Get Higher was one of those, as well. There were several weeks where I wasn't really being myself. Then, last week, with the Elvis song, I went, 'You know what? I'm just going to go out there and do what I would do if I was at home and I was playing this song. This is how I would do it, and this is how I would interpret it, and this is as honest as I can be with this performance.

Q: I thought that moment came with the Beatles week.

A: That was also a really good week.

Q: It seemed like you had figured out how to get inside the song and make the voice that you had serve the song.

A: That definitely happened the Beatles week. The Beatles week was a little different, because I still wasn't quite back to my comfort zone. I'd actually never played an electric guitar for a show before – that was a very first for me. I didn't really play that up, but I'd never done that before. That was still me going outside what I was really comfortable with, but it did turn out well, and I really loved playing that song.The Elvis was one, personally, that really clicked for me.

Q: You had a very strong, very young audience. How do you take into account that your core audience is probably 10 to 17 years olds?

A:
I realized that age group is incredibly energetic and really enthusiastic. If you want a fan base that's going to really support you, that's a really good fan base.
I had an idea that would be the group that would gravitate toward me, but I didn't expect it to be that big. It kind of blew me away a little bit. That was really cool, because when you walk out on stage, they're screaming and getting really excited. It pumps you up a lot.

Q: You've got two younger sisters, aged 15 and 16. How did they take to all of this? What stories did they have to tell?

A: Oh, man, they had so many stories – everybody coming up to them, people who they don't even talk to, ever, all of a sudden they want to be their best friends and know how Tim's doing on the show. They kind of laughed. They thought it was funny. They didn't freak out that I was on the show, but all their friends did. They thought it was hilarious.

Q: Your best early performance came when Ryan and Kara wondered why you smiled so much when they were doing their best to humiliate you. How much of that answer had you prepared beforehand?

A: You know, I had no idea what I was going to say. I had no idea that question would come up. So that was just what popped into my head. That was just what I was feeling at the time. I hadn't even really thought about it. She just asked the question, and I was, like, well, here's the answer. I had no idea how it would go over. I was just trying to give an honest answer.

Q: When Kara said she wasn't sure you even understood what she was saying to you, how did that come across to you?

A:
Kind of the way she said a couple of things, I don't she meant it that way, at all. It's just the way she said it, it was kind of funny to me. And they probably didn't understand why I was up there smiling, when they had those certain remarks to make. I understand how that could be confusing for a judge. When they're giving those remarks, they expect a certain reaction. If they don't get it, I don't understand why it could be a little confusing.

Q:
You caught a lot of criticism, not only from the judges but from viewers of the show. It got pretty ugly on the boards.

A:
It did. It got really ugly. I tried to avoid that. I had some of my relatives, my cousins, out there defending me, so that was kind of funny. I realized that people were going to talk.
I also found out really early in the show that I was going to be this polarizing contestant on the show. People were either going to really like me or they were going to really hate me. It was just the spot where I fell. I figured that out really fast. So I kind of came to grips with it and said, 'Okay, it is what it is.' You don't play for the audience that doesn't like you, you play for the people that want you to do well.

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